Q: Please tell me about material and spiritual desires. Does the environment determine all our desires? And what if there is no environment? Is it death?
A: Everything is determined by our inner Reshimot (spiritual recollections) or by the environment (education, advertising, friends, etc.). See the four factors of man’s development and freedom in Baal HaSulam’s, The Freedom.
Q: And what about the basic desires of humanity? Is this the only thing we have?
A: Each of us obediently plays a tiny role in this grandiose mechanical show, feeling “what passes on us” and finally becoming prepared to sense the end result.
Q: How did great Kabbalists sustain and develop their desire for the spiritual while being alienated from humanity? Or was it their way of distancing themselves from the desires obstructing the road to the goal (money, respect, power, etc.)? What was happening to the spiritual desires at the time of such estrangement?
A: The great Kabbalists felt humanity as no one else did, absorbing its suffering and aspirations, and were closer to it than anyone.
Q: How can one grow desires within? From inside? Is it possible?
A: This can be achieved only by studying and contributing efforts towards anything relating to Kabbalah and by being constantly connected to it.
Q: What is the reason for the lack of desires? I am referring not to the feeling of an empty vessel; instead, it is a feeling that there isn’t one.
A: If you are struggling with this and do not succeed, then you have to go through this feeling and it will pass. Bow your head, but don’t consent to it, just go on as if you do have desires.